the use of "there be" syntax

[jiayou2015j613]

Hi Ron,

I am so exciting to post a topic to you about the syntax "there be", which is really puzzling me. Here is an example for you as follows:

Since the start of the space age, more and more littering has occurred in orbits near Earth, often because the intentional discarding of lens caps, packing material, fuel tanks, and payload covers.

A. more and more littering has occurred in orbits near Earth, often because
B. orbits near Earth have become more and more littered, often from
C. orbits near Earth became littered more and more, often resulting from
D. there have been more and more littering of orbits near Earth, often because of
E. there had been littering more and more of orbits near Earth, often with

The correct Answer is B.

I am wondering why the Choice D is incorrect. As somebody said, if a sentence is subordinative compound, the subject of the main clause should be a common noun but not "there be"?? Is the principle right? That's the reason that Choice D incorrect?

Happy to hear from you.

Have a nice day.
Maggie 6/21

[RonPurewal]

the issue in choice D is the single most basic issue in all of english verb construction:
'have been' is plural.
'littering' is singular.
so, wrong. (it's like writing 'there are a car in my driveway.')

[RonPurewal]

i have no idea what a 'subordinative compound' is... but i can tell you with certainty that, by focusing on such obscure things, you're losing your grip on the fundamentals. (here, because you were so distracted by 'subordinative compounds'—whatever that might mean—you missed a disagreeing subject and verb!)

SC is not a test of a thousand obscure weird things. it's almost entirely a test of fundamentals, with a decent number of distractions thrown in there to test your concentration (and your ability to set priorities).

[RonPurewal]

finally—welcome to the forum (i see this is your first post)... but please take the time to explore the forum and follow the forum rules before posting.

• this is the wrong folder for your query. GMATPrep problems have their own folder.

• please search the forum before posting! if you post a new thread on a problem for which a thread already exists, then we'll shutter the new thread. (if there were too many different discussions about the same problem, the forum would become far less useful as a reference tool.)

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